2-day Lull In Beirut Shattered By Battles

BEIRUT — Fierce gunbattles broke out Monday in and around three Palestinian settlements in the Beirut area, shattering a two-day lull.

The police said three people were killed and 25 were wounded in the fighting, now in its third week.

The renewed violence prevented the Red Cross from rescuing more wounded in Bourg el-Barajneh, the largest of the three settlements. So far, relief workers have evacuated 93 wounded people from the besieged settlement.

After a shaky cease-fire that generally held since Saturday, skirmishes during the night between armed Palestinians defending the camps and Shiite forces gave way to more sustained fighting Monday.

Militiamen of the Shiite militia Amal and soldiers of the army`s Sixth Brigade directed rockets and tank fire into two camps, Chatilla and Bourg el- Barajneh, while Palestinian gunners in the surrounding hills fired artillery and rocket barrages at the Shiite fighters.

A Palestinian spokesman reached by telephone said Chatilla was ringed by tanks and armored cars and that the Shiite forces were preparing to storm it. The third camp, Sabra, was captured last week.

A Lebanese military source said about 300 armed Palestinians were holding out in a school and a mosque, in Chatilla. He said the rest of the refugee district had been captured.

The outbreak of fresh battles was evidence that efforts to find a solution to the problem of the camps have so far produced no results.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers raided a Shiite Moslem village in south Lebanon on Monday and seized 40 men in what was seen as a warning to Shiite militiamen operating in the south.

Israeli forces are due to complete their withdrawal from Lebanon in the next few days and the raid was considered a clear warning that Israel would not tolerate Shiite attacks on the South Lebanon Army.